I never write reviews but I have to make an exception for this one...

I thought the movie would be good - 7.1 rating and excellent actors.
And that's actually all, which is good about the movie. So unrealistic
and playing the lowest nature of human being, I have actually left the
movie theater sad and disgusted with the fact how many people actually
cheered out loud during the movie.

a) A plane makes it to D.C. before being intercepted by two raptors,
which get shot down and after that only ONE raptor is sent to deal with
the threat. b) Disregarding the fact that half of the army would
already be all over D.C. when the two jets got shot down, the
terrorists are now advancing towards the White House on foot - Humvees
and choppers are sent out from across the river and the humvees get
there first??? c) all the SS agents just run toward the bullets d)
president gets captured and the U.S. chain of command will let the
nation be destroyed just because of one man e) WH doesn't use the super
secret weapon to defend the premises but somehow the terrorists are
able to operate it??? f) Blowing up unarmed ICBMs will destroy the
nation??? g) At the end when Butler calls in that they are okay, it
takes them 5 mins to get out of the building and no one is going in???

And two things are absolutely worst: 1) Cheap and cheesy nationalism
that should actually make people beware is still working to stir up
some pretty strong emotions, especially among those whose necks are two
feet wide and heads cleanly shaved. I was absolutely horrifies how many
people stop thinking when a flag above WH has bullet holes in it and
start punching the air, yelling and all together start behaving like
animals... It's actually pretty scary, no wonder some people were
scared of garrison state after the Cold War started. We are not far
from it today... 2) I wonder who REALLY paid for this crap. So cheesy
and appealing to the lowest animal nature of dumb people portraying
North Korea as new terrorist threat??? (To be fair in one part of the
movie they had to say that people in Middle East were celebrating when
seeing the WH captured) How lame and pathetic is this... Yes let's go
to war with every single country that doesn't necessarily love the
United States. At least from the audience I had to sit in, you would
probably get good 50 volunteers for the first lines.

Absolutely appalling and scary experience.

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370 out of 489 people found the following review useful:

Dumb Hard

The entire movie I kept waiting for Leslie Nielsen to show up. This has
got to be a parody right?

Olympus Has Fallen is the most blatant, and dumbest Die Hard scene for
scene copy that has, or more likely, will ever be made. I don't know
how security cameras, sub machine guns, rocket launchers or bunkers
work, but I'm sure I know they don't work like they do in this movie.
This is like a really bad cover to a great, iconic song. Same words,
but man, is it painful to experience.

Not only does every single actor in this movie talk with the Jack Bauer
and Batman Begins gravel voice, I think this movie is racist and
discriminatory too. Not even toward the Koreans, it's also downright
Anti-American. Look, there's some dummies that come and go from all
levels of our government, but this movie makes reality look pretty
sweet because everybody in this one is freaking IQ flat lined. The FBIs
Johnson and Johnson (no relation) at the Nakatomi building were smarter
than anybody in this one.

Did I mention how dumb this movie is? Don't you have to Arm a missile
BEFORE you detonate it? Can you evacuate 30k US troops from the DMZ in
30 minutes? Or, you know the part where they send in the Navy SEALs
knowing their own weaponry will cut these brave men down and the CSA,
played by Robert Forrester for payday, refuses to call them back after
5/6 helos are smoking? Wait, these guys are probably still alive, they
can get out of the chopper and get the job done...

Nah, the movie lets them be dead for the sake of the script so Butler
bad dude can go in there and clean house. Even though all his security
codes should be revoked for the White House after 18 months reassigned.
:( My head hurts.

As an American, folks, I want to publicly apologize for this thing.
Also, what the heck hit that first SUV at the beginning of the movie? I
still have no idea what that was. But then there I go trying to think.
Everything I've been taught to do, my entire life. You know using my
powers of deduction and all that education, man forget it. You'll only
suffer.

Live free or Dumb Hard. With a Vengeance Harder

P.S. hashtag is shift 3

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326 out of 481 people found the following review useful:

What a Horrible Movie

First of all this rant is going to be filled with SPOILERS so now you
are warned.

Where do I begin? Do I start with how the antagonists all have magic
bullets and the secret service agents don't or that the good guys are
too stupid to seek cover when being fired upon. Maybe I should start
with the plane that decimates DC and how it wasn't even questioned on
the radio till it was flying over DC. Or maybe how Mike Banning (Gerard
Butler) is giving information to Speaker Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) and
says that were forty terrorists and now they are down to twenty-eight.
Seriously, I think Banning killed over six so out of all the other
agents they killed the other half.

My biggest angst is that Kang (Rick Yune) is torturing people for some
codes and the President (Aaron Eckhart) keeps saying "Give him the code
he will never get mine." and when it finally comes to the point in the
movie where Kang needs his code it is ALREADY in the computer. What
happened? How did Kang get his code?

Also, the fact that they gave into the terrorist demands over the life
of the President is hysterical especially when they bring up the phrase
"We do not negotiate with terrorists.".

Overall, I thought this movie should have been renamed a comedy because
I have never laughed so hard at all the ridiculous inaccuracies and
weak story line.

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322 out of 518 people found the following review useful:

What "Die Hard 5" should have been.

I find it ironic that Gerard Butler, a Scotsman, as disgraced Secret
Agent Mike Banning, embodies the spirit of John McClane much more than
Bruce Willis did in that last dreadful outing. If anything, Butler has
done nothing more than to cement his reputation as a bankable and
likable action hero for the new generation in this old-school action
movie. He has a commanding presence on-screen, quips wisecracks, bleeds
when it's crucial, and dispatches the bad guys in a methodical cross
between Jason Bourne and John Rambo. Not even the fine supporting cast
(Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa
Leo, Dylan McDermott) can take away Butler's limelight.

Indeed, Antoine Fuqua's "Olympus Has Fallen" is not only terrific
entertainment but a terrific throwback to the pivotal 90's action
movie, the Die Hard clone - and this film ("Die Hard" in the White
House) is another reminder of why the trusted formula works, even if it
has been dormant for nearly two decades (the last good big one being
Peter Hyams' "Sudden Death").

From the moment the film's main action start, the film doesn't stop
running. The bad guys, hoo boy do they mean business. Rarely, if at
all, have I seen this much brutal collateral damage in an American
action film. Americans citizens get mowed down by bullets from ground
and air forces. The all-American (Scottish) hero represents freedom and
justice, and the bad guys represent every American's worst nightmare. I
haven't seen this much political incorrectness since "The Delta Force".
Having said that, Rick Yune surprisingly makes for an effective and
nasty villain, who is relentlessly cold, smug and procedural in his
mission, following the formula perfectly. If it ain't broke, don't fix
it.

It's fast, it's loud, it's preposterous, and yet I enjoyed every minute
of it. The film is chock-full of sensational and well-shot action
sequences/special effects, but its biggest strength is its cohesion.
From start to finish the plot moves smoothly, and you can tell who the
good guys and the bad guys are. The characters are established, their
motives clear, and that's that. The action sequences do not simply skip
to each other, they flow perfectly like a stream, thanks to crisp
editing. Simplicity is key here, and convoluted plots do not fit in the
formula (hear that, "Die Hard 5"?)

Fuqua is no stranger to action, having helmed the solid "Shooter" six
years ago. Here he ratchets up the action up to a 10 (CGI is present
but used reasonably), and he remarkably doesn't hold back on the
tension. It's no "Training Day", but it more or less hearkens back to
an Antoine Fuqua who made "The Replacement Killers". Just thrilling
fun.

Of course the plot isn't original. It's a genre picture, and what I pay
to see in a genre picture is its skillful craft and cohesive plot. This
film has both, and resurrects the Die Hard clone from the grave. Here I
thought I was getting bored of action movies. The genre is dying, you
say? Here's a solid kicker.

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215 out of 331 people found the following review useful:

Warmongering and incredible

I hoped from the previews to see an exciting action flick with
spectacular scenes, suspense, maybe some cleverness, heroism and
victory in the end. Hyper violent, anti-North Korean war mongering
overwhelmed any such values. North Korean "terrorists" are shown as
brutal and ruthless as Nazis. American air defense is incredibly
skimpy, incompetent and late. Our military leaders are weak saps who
cave in to every terrorist demand with "Oh, Pleeze don't hurt our
President! We'll do what you want." Our control of our own most potent
weapons systems is easily overridden by one woman terrorist at a
keyboard. The American SuperDuperHero single-handedly kills many of the
terrorists and liberates the President. After killing the UberVillain,
he even has a moment to put a bandage on the wounded President. That
scene actually made me laugh.

My wife and I regret we paid to see this. Negative emotions stirred up
by the film may cause bad effects, mental, such as tolerance for
another preemptive war, and bodily, like raised blood pressure, heart
rate, stomach acid. With tripe like this, if you liked the wars against
Viet Nam, Serbia, and Iraq, you'll probably love our wars on Iran and
"Second Korea."

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197 out of 302 people found the following review useful:

Plot has more holes than the bad guys!

Gerard, where did it all go wrong! I remember Butler as a good actor on
his way to being great. He has the personality and the talent to do so
much more with his craft. This was formulaic with an absurd plot -
which constantly contradicted itself. The entire US foreign policy
changed to save the President. No, don't think that would happen - you
just get another President. A major sequence where they torture staff
to get missile codes with the President vowing never to give his up -
which he doesn't, but they somehow tap it into the computer anyway.
Eh??? The fight scenes are beyond dumb, the assault on the white House
- might appeal to a ten year old. The C140 attack, was so cringe worthy
as to make me actually rise out the chair. The General in the control
room!!! Stop it. And the flag waving cringeworthy speech at the end -
do any Americans still buy into that type of faux patriotism. I so hope
not.

You take one look at the cast, and think this must be OK. In fact, you
look at the cast and think this might be great.

It's not.

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226 out of 374 people found the following review useful:

A Very Strong Razzie Nominee

What can I say ? First of all congratulations Antonio Fuqua. Selling
and getting BO profit from a production straight lifted or ripped down
to last inane dialog from a B grade cheese flick you can rent from
Blockbuster or Netflix is an accomplishment no one can deny. It is even
more impressive to get positive reviews for this silly trash that takes
itself seriously which makes it even more terrible. When this thing was
called Air Force One everyone every critic ripped it apart. Only
explanations Olympus Has Fallen getting a 7+ point in IMDb ( a rating
system which I will never take care of ) after so many years can be
decreasing IQ of mass movie going audience and insecurities of 9/11 on
US public. Every dumb stupid over the top Die Hard action cliché was
crammed in this production. A C-130 gunship entering restricted DC
airspace before shot down from a safe distance beggars belief. Or
highly trained Secret Service agents wasting ammunition on a fast
flying armoured aircraft. Or same agents exposing themselves only to be
mown down. North Korean terrorists ( yeah you read that right Korean )
are depicted more like Orcs or Klingons. Any actual Koreans watching
this film would probably laugh his ass off. At least in Hollyland
Number 1 villains are not Middle Easterns with cheesy Arab accents
anymore. What else ? Fallen military trained lone wolf hero killing all
of them one by one , meanwhile taunting evil mastermind ( who makes one
of most ridiculous evil turnout / reveal scene just by taking glasses
off. Rick Yune is just not Gary Oldman ) with US macho jargon and saves
the day. Down to talking to his wife in the middle of war zone he
basically screams "I am a John McLane looka like no:10241." Failed
military strike to retake captured building to increase tension. Oh
look only 3 seconds left to disaster...AAAAAND it is averted.

Last year Hollywood Powers That Be gave us Lockout which had basically
same script but also semi enjoyable but this is just awful. I
completely erased Gerard Butler from list of professional actors in
fact I will stay away from his films away from now on. Aaron Eckhart ,
Morgan Freeman and Dylan McDermott will have to struggle a lot to
redeem themselves in my eyes after this.

Have I mentioned shoddy CGI or annoying heroic /sad music during
supposedly heroic/sad moments ?

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148 out of 228 people found the following review useful:

Olympus Has Fallen  America is under attack, to hell with logic

Olympus Has Fallen is yet an other US president oriented flick. A ton
of action and special effects with almost as many logical flaws.

The acting is good, particularly Morgan Freeman (to a lesser extent:
Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart) and there's no denying the roller
coaster ride, but it has many shortcomings. Aside from the usual
suspension of disbelief, logic fails at almost every turn. Then there's
the poor dialogs, the easy retorts, the one dimensional underdeveloped
characters, the incredible body count, and the overly flag-centric
pride.

It's action based entertainment for sure, but not much else.

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138 out of 219 people found the following review useful:

This movie sucked.

Cliché, cheesy, inane, boring, predictable ... all could be used to sum
up this horrible movie. It sucked, and I want my money back. Because
this is America, and when things suck you should be able to get your $8
back.

I mean, I'm all about suspending disbelief in watching a movie. But
Let's face it, if the only three people in the world with the
detonation codes for every single nuclear missile were all being held
hostage by a terrorist in the White House bunker -- which just happened
to be the only place in the world where the detonation codes could be
changed -- well, I feel pretty confident the order would be given to
storm the White House and kill everyone in it ... including the
President. And if the cops and the Navy SEALS couldn't handle this
task, I feel pretty sure every one of us gun toting rednecks would
swarm on the White House and demolish it to the ground in about 15
minutes.

And speaking of stupid, how about that super dooper gun turret they
somehow miraculously smuggled into the White House and strategically
placed on the roof such that it could shoot down 6 Navy SEAL
helicopters??? OMFG! STOOOPID! This movie was Die Hard on steroids.
Lame lame lame lame lame, and again, lame. Of course they cap the whole
thing off with the proverbial ticking time bomb at the end ... that our
hero just manages to deactivate at the last second, saving us all from
certain doom.

What has the American population become that they would try to pass off
an utterly inane and stupid piece of malarkey like this movie on us as
an even marginally plausible scenario for a terrorist attack ...
never-mind having only one goober inside able to thwart the attack ...
and we as Americans don't stand up en masse and demand our freakin'
money back for this garbage?? Cheesy!

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247 out of 444 people found the following review useful:

Shoot the boredom.

If I was a critic I would have written this movie off. Saying that its
just one of those movies with the same old plot with a bit
modification. This is true, but as an audience I thoroughly enjoyed
this movie.

The best thing about this movie is its pace. You won't know how fast
the 110 minutes go. There's not a minute you feel bored. The attack
sequences are bit over the top, but if you are a drama lover, you won't
be disappointed. The storyline isn't much to think about but the
screenplay is apt. Its a good thing that the director Antonie Fuqua
keeps things simple, doesn't dig too much into the conspiracy stuff and
also doesn't include any unnecessary twists.

Gerard Butler does what he does best, fight bad guys. Aaron Eckhart as
the stern faced president reminds you of Harvey Dent. Morgan Freeman
probably is there to strengthen the star value in the film. But its the
villain Rick Yune with his evil smile who impresses.

This is an out and out entertainer, don't think too much, just be in
the moment and watch this movie.